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| Ho‘okupu Hula No Ka‘ū Festival will be Saturday, Nov. 4 and keiki and hula dancers of all ages practice Wednesdays at Pāhala Community Center. Those interested in volunteering or sponsoring a booth meet Wednesday, Oct. 4, at 6:30 p.m. Pāhala Community Center. See story below. Photo by Julia Neal |
AFTER FIVE DAYS, THE WAIKAPUNA BRUSHFIRE THAT BURNED 1,645 ACRES along the Ka‘ū Coast, sending smoke across South Point ranches and neighborhoods, "is now contained" with "no structures or communities... threatened at this time," the county Fire Department and Civil Defense agency announced today.
However, advisories to the public remained in place: “Area motorists should be on the lookout for emergency vehicles. Smoke from the fire may affect visibility for driving and air quality for Wai‘ōhinu area including Green Sands, Mark Twain Estates, and Discovery Harbor. The public is requested to stay out of the active fire area. Closures may occur without notice." According to the Hawai‘i Fire Department, a cause is yet to be determined.
See a wrap up of the fire coverage in Wednesday’s Ka‘ū News Briefs.
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| The Waikapuna fire burned for more than five days and is now contained. Photo from Big Island Video News. |
See a wrap up of the fire coverage in Wednesday’s Ka‘ū News Briefs.
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DE-ESCALTING THE NORTH KOREA CRISIS THROUGH DIPLOMATIC ENGAGEMENT is the call today from Tulsi Gabbard, Ka‘ū's representative in Congress: "After spending trillions of dollars on counterproductive regime change wars in Iraq, Syria, and Libya, we cannot afford to enmesh ourselves in another costly conflict with North Korea.
"Trading barbs, personal insults, and threats with Kim Jong Un has put the United States in a more tenuous position in East Asia than we have experienced since the Korean War. Taking a hardline stance that abandons diplomacy has caused the North Korean military to multiply their ballistic missile tests, put Guam in their crosshairs, and now threaten to shoot down American military planes.
"Regime change policy has failed, and it has nearly bankrupted our federal government. We have leaders who drag their feet at ensuring clean water for Flint or health care for the American public, but who jump at the opportunity to entangle ourselves in more costly foreign conflicts. Toppling Muammar Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein has not made the world safer—instead, dictators like Kim Jong Un cling harder to their nuclear arsenal as the only deterrent to further U.S. aggression.
"The cost of war is profound," Gabbard stated, noting that during her own military service, "I have served alongside friends in the Middle East who never made it home, and alongside still more who have struggled against systemic issues at home that we have neglected for want of more foreign entanglements.
Gabbard said her view is that "Diplomacy is our best hope to de-escalate the crisis with North Korea, and ultimately denuclearize the Korean peninsula. In order to protect our troops and allies in South Korea, Japan, and on naval vessels patrolling the Pacific, we have a responsibility to bring North Korea to the table.
Yesterday, she testified in Washington, D.C. before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee.
She shared that when she was diagnosed with stage four kidney cancer, about five months ago, the diagnosis came to her as a total shock, incidental to a physical exam." Out of the blue. Bang! You can't plan for it."
She said the proposed bill treated health care like a commodity that can be bought and sold. "This is fundamentally wrong." She reported that "before the Affordable Care Act, catastrophic health care costs were the largest driver of personal bankruptcy across the country. And since the law went into effect, we've seen a huge reduction in personal bankruptcies. There is a causal relationship when people get health care."
HAWAI‘I HAS THE HIGHEST TEACHER-FRIENDLINESS but is ranked the worst in the country for starting salaries for teachers and average annual salary for teachers, when considering the adjusted cost of living. The study by WalletHub, which came out yesterday, ranked Hawai‘i number 42 in teachers' income growth potential, 39 in the overall quality of the school system, 35 in pupil-teacher ratio, 34 in ten-year change in teacher salaries, and 20 in public school spending per student.
WalletHub analyzed the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 21 key metrics, ranging from teachers' income growth potential to pupil-teacher ratio to teacher safety. See the full study at 2017's Best & Worst States for Teachers.
To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see Facebook. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter.
THE ANNUAL ART SHOW, organized by Ka‘ū Chamber of Commerce, opened for public viewing today and will run through Friday, Sept. 29, in the CU Hawai'i Federal Credit Union Annex Building in Nā‘ālehu, during normal credit union business hours. The public is invited to vote on art for the cover of The Directory 2018.
Categories include: painting, graphics, photography, craft, lei, weaving, jewelry, quilting, sculpture, and woodworking. There are also categories for Youth and Keiki entries.
Chamber co-chairs Alan Stafford and Allen Humble said the annual art show as a fundraiser for the Ka‘ū Chamber of Commerce scholarship program. For more details, visit the Chamber website at kauchamber.org or call 936-5288.
UPCOMING FALL TROJAN SPORTS:
A SPECIAL OPEN HOUSE FOR VETERANS TO PREVIEW the newly installed Telehealth
Medical Equipment at Ocean View Community Center is planned for Thursday, Sept. 28, from 10 a.m. to noon. For more information, read the Ka'ū News Briefs from September 10 and September 19, or call 939-7033.
THE ENDANGERED HAWAIIAN PETREL, ‘UA‘U, will be the subject of discussion at Coffee Talk on Friday, Sept. 29, from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. inside the Visitor Center at the Kahuku Unit of Hawai‘i Volcanoes' National Park.
Hawai‘i Volcanoes' National Park Avian Research Technician Charlotte Forbes-Perry will present a talk about the life of the ‘ua‘u and the National Park’s efforts to monitor and protect them.
Ka‘ū coffee, tea and pastries will be available for purchase. Entrance to the event and park is free. Visit nps.gov/havo for more.
HAWAI'I FARMERS UNION United will hold its annual Ka'ū chapter meeting at Pāhala Plantation House, at 96-3209 Maile St. this Saturday, Sept. 30, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Members and friends are invited to participate in the Ka'ū Chapter business and Convention discussion, election of board members and a potluck dinner.
BIRTH OF KAHUKU a free hike within the Kahuku Unit of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park is offered tomorrow, Sept. 30, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Explore the rich geologic history of Kahuku on this easy-to-moderate hike that traverses the vast 1868 lava flow, with different volcano features and formations. Learn about the Hawaiian hotspot and the creation of Kahuku. Visit nps.gov/HAVO for more details.
NATIONAL PUBLIC LANDS DAY IS SATURDAY, Sept. 30, and Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park is offering free entrance and two opportunities to help to remove invasive plant species, one in the park and the other in the Ocean View community.
"Trading barbs, personal insults, and threats with Kim Jong Un has put the United States in a more tenuous position in East Asia than we have experienced since the Korean War. Taking a hardline stance that abandons diplomacy has caused the North Korean military to multiply their ballistic missile tests, put Guam in their crosshairs, and now threaten to shoot down American military planes.
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| Kim Jong Un Image from Wikipedia |
"The cost of war is profound," Gabbard stated, noting that during her own military service, "I have served alongside friends in the Middle East who never made it home, and alongside still more who have struggled against systemic issues at home that we have neglected for want of more foreign entanglements.
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Hawai‘i Army National Guard Major and
Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard calls
for talks with North Korea.
Photo from Office of Tulsi Gabbard |
"We can only win North Korea's trust when we swear off our arbitrary interventions in sovereign countries. Peace, not war, is the only sane option, but there is a longstanding bipartisan consensus in Washington that disagrees. I have never been afraid of going against my own party or the Washington establishment to do what I feel is right. Please sign our petition for diplomacy and an end to counterproductive regime change policy," she proclaimed with a link to her peace petition.
"Peace is more difficult to achieve than conflict. We cannot be afraid of standing up to our enemies—especially when all our enemies seem to want is violence. Let's find a better path forward," Gabbard concluded.
To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see Facebook. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter.
THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT WAS PRESERVED, at least one more time today, when U.S. Senate Republicans withdrew their latest Obama Care repeal bill. Sen. Mazie Hirono tweeted: "Mahalo to everyone who spoke out against #GrahamCassidy. Our work toward health care - that is a right & not a privilege - must continue."
"Peace is more difficult to achieve than conflict. We cannot be afraid of standing up to our enemies—especially when all our enemies seem to want is violence. Let's find a better path forward," Gabbard concluded.
To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see Facebook. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter.
THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT WAS PRESERVED, at least one more time today, when U.S. Senate Republicans withdrew their latest Obama Care repeal bill. Sen. Mazie Hirono tweeted: "Mahalo to everyone who spoke out against #GrahamCassidy. Our work toward health care - that is a right & not a privilege - must continue."
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| Sen. Mazie Hirono speaking to the Senate Finance Committee on Monday, regarding preserving and improving the Affordable Care Act. Photo fro the Office of Sen. Mazie Hirono |
She shared that when she was diagnosed with stage four kidney cancer, about five months ago, the diagnosis came to her as a total shock, incidental to a physical exam." Out of the blue. Bang! You can't plan for it."
She said she is being treated with much compassion from colleagues and even from total strangers. "It helps me a lot."
Sadly, however, compassion was not in the health care bill, Hirono said. "In the greatest, richest country in the world, compassion for our fellow men and women should not be so illusive, or, indeed, missing."
Sadly, however, compassion was not in the health care bill, Hirono said. "In the greatest, richest country in the world, compassion for our fellow men and women should not be so illusive, or, indeed, missing."
"The Graham-Cassidy proposal neither reflects care nor compassion for millions across the country," Hirono testified.
Hirono also testified that "Under the thin veneer of states rights and local control, the Graham-Cassidy bill imposes a radical overhaul of one-sixth of the American economy."
According to the Brooking Institution, 32 million people would have lost their health care under Graham-Cassidy, Hirono said. Close to 600,000 in Hawai‘i and 134 million people across the country, with pre-existing conditions would have been at risk of losing health insurance.
She said it could have taken away health insurance benefits "at someone's moment of greatest need." She said Hawai‘i would have suffered about $4 billion in cuts and with about 91,000 fewer people covered for health care.
"Let's return to the bipartisan negotiations," to stabilize the health insurance marketplace, Hirono recommended.
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A TRAVEL BOOST INSTEAD OF A TRAVEL BAN, is a small piece of economic development promotion that Sen. Mazie K. Hirono helped make permanent today, Sept. 26. The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Travel Card Program grants Americans and citizens from APEC nations access to fast-track processing lanes at Daniel K. Inouye Honolulu International Airport and airports across the U.S. and Asia-Pacific. It will become a permanent program with the U.S. Senate's unanimous approval today, if it also wins approval form the U.S. House of Representatives.
Hirono said that more than 200 Hawai‘i residents are active holders of the APEC Business Travel Card, which saves 43 minutes on average in airport wait times. Without the passage of the bill, U.S. Customs and Border Protection cannot issue cards to U.S. citizens after September 30, 2018.
“By permanently extending this successful program, the Senate today has affirmed the importance of travel to our economy and our country’s engagement with the nations of the Asia-Pacific.”
Said Hirono, “With 95 percent of the world’s consumers outside of the United States, it’s
critical that we continue to make it more efficient for American businesses to reach overseas markets.”
To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see Facebook. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter.
A TRAVEL BOOST INSTEAD OF A TRAVEL BAN, is a small piece of economic development promotion that Sen. Mazie K. Hirono helped make permanent today, Sept. 26. The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Travel Card Program grants Americans and citizens from APEC nations access to fast-track processing lanes at Daniel K. Inouye Honolulu International Airport and airports across the U.S. and Asia-Pacific. It will become a permanent program with the U.S. Senate's unanimous approval today, if it also wins approval form the U.S. House of Representatives.
“By permanently extending this successful program, the Senate today has affirmed the importance of travel to our economy and our country’s engagement with the nations of the Asia-Pacific.”
Said Hirono, “With 95 percent of the world’s consumers outside of the United States, it’s
critical that we continue to make it more efficient for American businesses to reach overseas markets.”
To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see Facebook. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter.
WalletHub announced the results of its study to be tagged with World Teachers Day. It is called 2017's Best & Worst States for Teachers.
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| http://kaucalendar.com/TheDirectory_2017.swf |
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THE ANNUAL ART SHOW, organized by Ka‘ū Chamber of Commerce, opened for public viewing today and will run through Friday, Sept. 29, in the CU Hawai'i Federal Credit Union Annex Building in Nā‘ālehu, during normal credit union business hours. The public is invited to vote on art for the cover of The Directory 2018.
Categories include: painting, graphics, photography, craft, lei, weaving, jewelry, quilting, sculpture, and woodworking. There are also categories for Youth and Keiki entries.
Chamber co-chairs Alan Stafford and Allen Humble said the annual art show as a fundraiser for the Ka‘ū Chamber of Commerce scholarship program. For more details, visit the Chamber website at kauchamber.org or call 936-5288.
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| Pick up the September edition of The Ka'ū Calendar delivered free to 5,500 mailboxes throughout Ka'ū, from Miloli'i through Volcano. Also available on stands throughout the district. See it online at kaucalendar.com |
UPCOMING FALL TROJAN SPORTS:
Girls Volleyball
Wednesday, Sept. 27, Ka'ū vs. Ehunui, home.
Friday, Sept. 29, Ka'ū vs. Pahoa, away.
Friday, Oct. 6, Ka'ū vs. Kealakehe, home.
Wednesday, Oct. 11, Ka'ū vs. Kohala, away.
Friday, Oct. 13, Ka'ū vs. Honoka'a, home.
Friday, Sept. 29, Ka'ū vs. Pahoa, away.
Friday, Oct. 6, Ka'ū vs. Kealakehe, home.
Wednesday, Oct. 11, Ka'ū vs. Kohala, away.
Friday, Oct. 13, Ka'ū vs. Honoka'a, home.
Eight-Man Football
Saturday, Oct. 7, Ka'ū vs. Kohala, home.
Saturday, Oct. 21, Ka'ū vs. Pāhoa, home.
Saturday, Oct. 7, Ka'ū vs. Kohala, home.
Saturday, Oct. 21, Ka'ū vs. Pāhoa, home.
Cross Country
Saturday, Sept. 30, Ka'ū vs. Waiakea, away.
Saturday, Oct. 7, Ka'ū vs. Kea'au, away.
Saturday, Oct. 13, Ka'ū vs. BIIF, away.
Saturday, Sept. 30, Ka'ū vs. Waiakea, away.
Saturday, Oct. 7, Ka'ū vs. Kea'au, away.
Saturday, Oct. 13, Ka'ū vs. BIIF, away.
Bowling
Saturday, Sept. 30, Ka'ū vs. Kamehameha at Kona Bowl.
Cheerleading
Wednesday, Oct. 4, at Konawaena.
Wednesday, Oct. 18, at Kamehameha.
Saturday, Sept. 30, Ka'ū vs. Kamehameha at Kona Bowl.
Cheerleading
Wednesday, Oct. 4, at Konawaena.
Wednesday, Oct. 18, at Kamehameha.
Medical Equipment at Ocean View Community Center is planned for Thursday, Sept. 28, from 10 a.m. to noon. For more information, read the Ka'ū News Briefs from September 10 and September 19, or call 939-7033.
A PERFECT DAY FOR AN ALBATROSS is a book for signing by Volcano artist Caren Loebel-Fried during her talk story with seabird biologist Cynthia Vanderlip this Thursday, Sept. 28, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Volcano Art Center, Niaulani Campus in Volcano Village.
The artist shares personal experience researching on Midway Atoll, and explains how she created the book. She will sign copies and personalize limited edition prints of book art, and display original work.
Vanderlip will share her work experience in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands since 1989 for National Marine Fisheries Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the state Department of Land & Natural Resources and Oceanic Society as a biologist, technician, naturalist and U.S. Coast Guard-licensed boat captain. She leads annual field camps at Kure Atoll for the DLNR, Division of Forestry & Wildlife.
See more of Caren Loebel-Fried Art at carenloebelfried.com.
OCEAN VIEW COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORP. MEETS Friday, Sept. 29, at 5 p.m., at the Hawaiian Ranchos office.
OCEAN VIEW COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORP. MEETS Friday, Sept. 29, at 5 p.m., at the Hawaiian Ranchos office.
THE ENDANGERED HAWAIIAN PETREL, ‘UA‘U, will be the subject of discussion at Coffee Talk on Friday, Sept. 29, from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. inside the Visitor Center at the Kahuku Unit of Hawai‘i Volcanoes' National Park.
Ka‘ū coffee, tea and pastries will be available for purchase. Entrance to the event and park is free. Visit nps.gov/havo for more.
HAWAI'I FARMERS UNION United will hold its annual Ka'ū chapter meeting at Pāhala Plantation House, at 96-3209 Maile St. this Saturday, Sept. 30, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Members and friends are invited to participate in the Ka'ū Chapter business and Convention discussion, election of board members and a potluck dinner.
BIRTH OF KAHUKU a free hike within the Kahuku Unit of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park is offered tomorrow, Sept. 30, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Explore the rich geologic history of Kahuku on this easy-to-moderate hike that traverses the vast 1868 lava flow, with different volcano features and formations. Learn about the Hawaiian hotspot and the creation of Kahuku. Visit nps.gov/HAVO for more details.
To join the Stewardship at the Summit program from 9 a.m. to noon, meet volunteers Paul and Jane Field at Kīlauea Visitor Center at 8:45 a.m., then head into the forest to remove Himalayan ginger from the summit of Kīlauea. Volunteers receive a free park pass to use on another date of choice.
In Ocean View, volunteers will remove invasive fountain grass. Meet at the Ocean View Community Center this Saturday, Sept. 30, at 9 a.m.; bring lunch, water, a hat and sun protection. Contact Park Ecologist David Benitez at 985-6085 or email him at david_benitez@nps.gov for more information about this project.
TWO STORY TIME EVENTS ARE OFFERED AT KA'Ū LIBRARIES the first week of October. Tūtū and Me Traveling Preschool staff will read a book aloud to keiki of all ages, with "a fun activity and snack provided following the story,” according to the event flier issued by Hawai‘i State Public Library System.
Story Time is free to attend and will take place from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Nā‘ālehu Public Library on Monday, Oct. 2, and from 10:30 a.m. to noon at Pāhala Public Library on Thursday, Oct. 5.
For more information call Nā‘ālehu Public Library at 939-2442 or Pāhala Public Library at 928-2015. For more library events, visit librarieshawaii.org/events.
For more information call Nā‘ālehu Public Library at 939-2442 or Pāhala Public Library at 928-2015. For more library events, visit librarieshawaii.org/events.